Mary Tyler Moore

Mary Tyler Moore proved to be a timeless classic in humor, energy, and full of surprises. From her television debut to a TV sitcom of her own, she showed there was no limit in the world of entertainment.

Quite The Youngster

Mary Tyler Moore was born on December 29, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York, but grew up in Southern California. Mary started out being trained as a dancer, and was dancing on top kitchen appliances as the little elf "Happy Hotpoint" that appeared on commercials between the "Ozzie and Harriet Show" in 1955 before she graduated from high school. She did have a few more smaller roles in the TV shows "Bachelor Father" and "Stever Canyon" in 1958. Her first regular, although only three months long was a secretary in "Richard Diamond, Private Detective". She ended up leaving due to only her legs and voice were the only thing that was focused on. Before she made it big, she had her next few roles in a few popular dramatic television series "77 Sunset Strip" (1958), "Hawaiian Eye" (1959), "Thriller (1960), "The Millionaire" (1960), and "Surfside 6" (1960).

Making a Name for Herself

After her showing on the TV special with Dick Van Dyke, a few networkexecutives thought that it might be a good idea to consider her for a sitcom of her own. Then, without wasting any time and less than a year later, Mary Tyler Moore was playing the role of Mary Richards in her very own show "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" that ran for seven years (1970-1977) - she now had reached her peak of popularity. Mary Richards would be portrayed as the average "girl-next-door" working in a Minneapolis, Minnesota TV station. This part brought Mary to win three more Emmy Awards, and even the special award as Series Actress of the Year in 1974. With this role, Mary successfully captured the hearts of America.

After the series ended, Mary went back to playing more dramatic roles including:

"First, You Cry" in 1978, playing the role of Betty Rawlins, a breast cancer victim.

A Few Hardships

Just like in the show "Ordinary People" where Mary played a character what was having trouble dealing with the loss of one of her sons, Mary was facing the same thing in real-life. Mary lost her 24-year old son in 1980 due to an accidental self-inflicted gunshotwound, the same year the film was released. The pressure overwhelmed Mary and she finally checked herself into the Betty Ford Clinic to deal with her social drinking problem four years later in 1984, saying that consuming alcohol was affecting her health due to being a life long diabetic.